Audio Clips

01 October 2011

Libertarianism Around the World

One of the great points that Stossel makes in this clip is that Chile took steps to introduce free-markets about 30 years ago and since then per capita income has tripled and their semi-private voucher system has made them the highest-scoring nation in South America when it comes to education. In spite of this, there are people (primarily youth) rioting in Chile to eliminate private education and eliminate disparities in income.

To me this illustrates the point that the argument between freedom and tyranny is NEVER done. New generations have to learn for themselves that government paternalism simply doesn't work. It is enervating and doomed to end in tyranny. I believe that there are three kinds of people in the world: those who want the freedom to determine their own destiny, those who want to be provided for at the expense of others, and those who haven't made up their mind yet. It's that third group who deserves our attention.

No comments:

There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen. - Frederic Basiat

Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things. - Adam Smith

The desire of bettering our condition, a desire which, though generally calm and dispassionate, comes with us from the womb, and never leaves us till we go into the grave. - Adam Smith

Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it. - Milton Friedman